Commonly, roofing nails and other nails intended for outdoor use are formed from carbon steel wire. It is necessary to protect such nails against corrosion.
It is conventional to galvanize such nails, in a batch process, after such nails have been formed. It is known, moreover, to coat the galvanized nails with a polymeric material, which provides further protection against corrosion.
Because galvanizing in a batch process is expensive and difficult to implement, it would be highly desirable to eliminate any need to galvanize such nails after such nails have been formed, while still achieving the desired corrosion resistance for the nails.